[Mrwsga]

Hey Everyone
My name is Ryan & Im 20 years old about to be 21 in two months

This is what ive gone thru this far and I really just need some feedback and comfort

Well in September 2007 I had RNY gastric bypass I was 350lbs and after about a year and 3 months I lost down to 180lbs

Well last year in November i was having severe back pain and Went to the hospital only to discover my intestines were notted up and my bowel was getting blood to it

I had emergency surgery on the bowel obstruction and my intestines were unknotted
Well I was out of the hospital in early december sent home to recover and hopefully begin a normal but everything has seemd to go down hill since then

Every since I left the hospital I have had diareah, loud audilbe like bowel sounds, Terrible diareah and bloating after eating
I also notice one other thing when I go to sit down I can only go so much and then when I stand up I feel like I have to go again

Another symptom I have is open like sores on the corner of my mouth they just developed about a week ago and they dont seem to go away

Well I have been dealing with the symptoms since then and Have been going back and forth to the doctor i was put on several medications and nothing has stopped the diareah including immodium AD

Now I have finally been sent to a GI doctor and a TtGA and stool samples were ordered to test for Celiac Disease

I am so scared you guys I dont know why im going thru all of this and I dont know how to feel and how to react

My question is why did this happen after my intestines and colon was unknotted?

I just dont understand how that would make celiac present in me?

Im so scared you guys I did the test for the antibodies on saturday and my colonoscopy is on fifteenth of June

Also not to mention the doctor also done a rectal swab and tested it there in the office it was positive for blood

I am so scared and just dont know how to feel at this point
Do you guys think this is celiac or what?

[ang1e0251]

It could be celiac disease. It can be triggered by a surgery or trama and you had certainly had your share. The symptoms sound like they could be celiac disease but it mimics other conditions so the testing is a good thing. Don't panic yet. Your dr's are on top of it and won't let you bleed to death. That's why they swabbed you so they could help you. If you test positive for celiac disease, you can go gluten-free right after your endoscopy. If your tests come back negative, you could still be gluten intolerant. There is no test for that. What you can do is take the gluten-free diet for a ride and see if you feel better.

I hope you are feeling better soon. Keep us posted as to your progress and feel free to ask any other questions you have.

[ravenwoodglass]

I am so sorry that you are going through so much and I and many others fully understand your fears. As already stated celiac requires a trigger and your surgeries and other problems could very well have triggered it. I would call the GI doctor and make sure they do an endo at the same time they do the colonoscopy. A colonoscopy will not diagnose celiac as the damage from that is in the small rather than the large intestine. Spend the next couple of weeks of waiting time reading as much as you can about the celiac diet. You can start the diet on the same day that they do the endo. Do not however go gluten free before that. There is a risk of a false negative with the endo procedure and the blood tests but if celiac is an issue you may see improvement even before you get your test results.
Hang in there and feel free to post any questions you feel you need to.

[Mrwsga]

They did a TTG test for the antibodies as I am continuing to eat gluten and everything came back normal
There doing a colonoscopy on the fifteenth of june so
I think im even more confused now than before the blood test are negative and ttg is normal how confusing

[ravenwoodglass]

Mrwsga, on Jun 4 2009, 07:57 PM, said:

They did a TTG test for the antibodies as I am continuing to eat gluten and everything came back normal
There doing a colonoscopy on the fifteenth of june so
I think im even more confused now than before the blood test are negative and ttg is normal how confusing

If you developed celiac recently you may not have enough antibodies built up yet and there is also the possibility of a false negative even when we are very ill for a long time. Do go ahead and give the diet a try after they have done the endoscopy. If you are not having an endo done, and sometimes they won't do them with a neg blood result, do give the diet a good strict try for a while anyway.

[Kylie]

Your story sounds a lot like mine. My Celiac didn’t show up until after a serious injury and surgery. I dislocated my knee and knee cap, damaged the nerves in my leg, and had surgery on it 3 months later. About a month after surgery the symptoms of Celiac really came on. After my diagnosis I realized I had had symptoms my whole life, but none were bad enough to make me go to the doctor until after the surgery. I had my first blood test done almost 6 months after my symptoms had started, and it was positive. I had the endoscopy/colonoscopy another month later (gotta love military health care, great healthcare but boy it takes forever). You might just need a little more time too.

I know the feeling of everything going downhill after one major event. Since my first surgery I have hurt my leg two more times seriously and spent almost my entire last year in and out of the hospital, but mostly in with a very rare neurological condition. I ended up in a wheelchair and my Celiac was out of control. But a year after all of that I am finally getting back to my life. It may not seem like it will ever get better, but if you just keep keeping on, it does eventually. Just know that there are a lot of people here just like you and we are all hoping that you get better.

[Mrwsga]

My colonoscopy is tommorow and Im very nervous IDK what to think or whatever

I also found out something else during these last few weeks I have noticed that drinking carbonated beverages makes me more gassy and more crampy and also makes my stools really lose
I have noticed also that my stools tend to not be loose as much if i dont drink soda

Im beginning to believe that I just have IBS Ill know for sure in the coming weeks

[ravenwoodglass]

Mrwsga, on Jun 14 2009, 10:40 PM, said:

My colonoscopy is tommorow and Im very nervous IDK what to think or whatever

I also found out something else during these last few weeks I have noticed that drinking carbonated beverages makes me more gassy and more crampy and also makes my stools really lose
I have noticed also that my stools tend to not be loose as much if i dont drink soda

Im beginning to believe that I just have IBS Ill know for sure in the coming weeks

I hope everything went well during the procedure. Did they do an endoscopy, (tube down throat to look at stomach and small intestines) A colonscopy will not show celiac, you need an endo and biopsies for celiac.

[Mrwsga]

I went back in for my followup today
All test come back normal the TTG was normal the biopsys were all normal

The only thing they saw was muscle damage to my colon
Something called atonic colon aso called lazy colon
My muscles in my colon dont seem to work well and produce to much water
They put me on fibercon to help slow down the water production and hopefully regulate my bowel movements
At least I know now that its not celiac disease. The specialist told me has seen very few to if any at all muscle problems in the bowels of young people
There are medicines for it but he doesnt want me to have them because I will become severly constipated so he told me to take the fibercon for to weeks and see how I begin to feel
Hopefully this gets better


I appreciate everyones help and hopefully this is the beginng of a new life for me

[ang1e0251]

Since your tests were incomplete for celiac disease, you did not have an endoscopy, and the blood work wasn't enough for diagnosis, you can still try the gluten free diet. I suspect you could get some relief from it. You could still have celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Your symptoms are suspicious. The diet could help you decide from how you feel.

It's only my opinion but since you weren't completely tested, I would hate to see you suffer more without a little dietary test of your own.

[G-freegal12]

Mrwsga, on Jun 14 2009, 10:40 PM, said:

My colonoscopy is tommorow and Im very nervous IDK what to think or whatever

I also found out something else during these last few weeks I have noticed that drinking carbonated beverages makes me more gassy and more crampy and also makes my stools really lose
I have noticed also that my stools tend to not be loose as much if i dont drink soda

Im beginning to believe that I just have IBS Ill know for sure in the coming weeks

Hey BTW, if you loooove rootbeer,coke or other beverages that use caramel coloring, you may be getting "glutened" through that. Gluten is sneaky and should never be trusted

[lizard00]

G-freegal12, on Jul 19 2009, 10:18 PM, said:

Hey BTW, if you loooove rootbeer,coke or other beverages that use caramel coloring, you may be getting "glutened" through that. Gluten is sneaky and should never be trusted

If you live in the states, it is more likely than not that caramel coloring is gluten-free.

http://www.celiac.com/articles/182/1/Unsaf...ents/Page1.html

[G-freegal12]

[quote name='lizard00' date='Jul 19 2009, 07:37 PM' post='548378']
If you live in the states, it is more likely than not that caramel coloring is gluten-free.

Oh... Well, I know that one now!